WASHINGTON (Dec 10, 2008)—Major farm organizations sent Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer a letter yesterday conveying serious concerns about the significant delay in publishing the regulations implementing numerous commodity and conservation provisions of the recently enacted farm bill. The letter, which was also delivered to Office of Management & Budget Director Jim Nussle and to Congressional…
Committee Letter to President Bush Twenty-two United States Senators from farm states sent President Bush a letter on Dec. 8 expressing their “serious concerns about the direction of global agricultural trade negotiations in Geneva.” The letter, which was signed by 15 members of the Agriculture Committee including Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Ranking Member Saxby…
WASHINGTON (Dec 9, 2008)—The Washington Post ran a front-page piece in April penned by a fellow of the German Marshall Fund—a well-heeled and outspoken farm critic—about a DC-area bagel shop that was forced to raise prices because of wheat costs. Like many news stories from the time period, the article—which is posted on the German…
Press release from the Senate Finance Committee Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), along with House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Ranking Member Jim McCrery (R-La), sent a letter today to President Bush, urging the administration to stand firm in the Doha Round negotiations at the…
WASHINGTON (Dec 1, 2008)—Visit most any university-level journalism class across the country, and you’ll undoubtedly hear a lesson about taking quotes out of context. It is a lesson aspiring reporters are taught early on in the curriculum—be accurate when quoting a source and don’t mischaracterize a source’s quote to fit the story you want to…
WASHINGTON (Nov 20, 2008)—Larry Combest, the former Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, this week penned a policy paper outlining potential pitfalls for farmers if the current World Trade Organization trade talks conclude without serious revisions. “Moving forward with the current direction of the Doha Round would critically injure an important sector of the U.S.…
WASHINGTON (Nov 7, 2008)—If you’re miffed about grocery prices still being high despite price drops in fuel and agricultural commodities, you’re in good company. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) recently penned a letter to the Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA) demanding one of two things: cheaper food on the shelves or an apology for unfairly blaming…
WASHINGTON (Nov 3, 2008)—Since 1973, farm bills have included a Rural Development Title. The 2008 farm bill builds on that tradition, addressing a wide range of policy issues affecting rural communities. Subjects covered by the title include economic planning and development; essential community facilities (such as emergency first responders and healthcare); water, waste disposal, and…
By: National Cotton Council There are many remaining areas of disagreement in the Doha Round trade negotiations. In the months since the Doha Round July mini-ministerial, virtually all of the discussion has centered on the Special Safeguard Mechanism, cotton, and Sectoral Negotiations in the NAMA (non-agricultural market access) negotiations as being among the last remaining…
WASHINGTON (Oct 23, 2008)—While Wall Street crumbled, poison seeped through a crack in the Great Wall of China’s bureaucracy over to our shores. And we barely paid it any notice. It would be almost impossible to see a better example of the importance of food security if it were staged. But there it is—from Vietnam…
About once a year “20/20” reporter John Stossel produces a piece about the evils of farm policy. None of the material is groundbreaking—he uses the same talking points that have been regurgitated by farm opponents for years. And like most professional farm critics, Stossel’s story is full of holes and keeps changing. In his 2007…
WASHINGTON (Oct 2, 2008)—In terms of farm policy, producers are in limbo right now, caught somewhere in between the new 2008 farm act and the old 2002 law. Farm bill implementing regulations have yet to be written, lawmakers and USDA officials continue to tussle over the intent of the law, and farmers are confused. Few…
WASHINGTON (Sep 24, 2008)—Want to take a cooking class from the founder of the Viking Range Corporation? You don’t have to shell out for a trendy culinary school in Manhattan; you simply need to head to a small town of 20,000 in the Mississippi Delta. Fred Carl, Jr., Viking’s founder, has joined the ranks of…
WASHINGTON (Sep 19, 2008)—During the farm bill debate, critics of farm policy were quick to accuse the men and women who feed and clothe the country of preferential treatment. Farm bill opponents pushed for a restrictive cap—based on a farmer’s adjusted gross income or AGI—to limit who can receive benefits from the farm safety net.…
WASHINGTON (Sep 12, 2008)—The “farm bill” might sound like a piece of legislation that deals strictly with agricultural policy, but it is far from narrowly focused. Every month, Farm Policy Facts will dissect a title of the bill to illustrate its breadth and importance to people all over our country – not just farmers. This…
WASHINGTON (Aug 22, 2008)—Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia will be the big battleground states in the upcoming presidential election, according to a recent analysis by CNN. And with the exception of New Hampshire, agriculture is a dominate industry in all of them. No wonder the candidates…
WASHINGTON (July 25, 2008)—Following the announcement of a trade concession a few years ago, a Minnesota farmer gave a local reporter a quote for the ages. “We need to have uniforms made up for our trade negotiators so they know what team they play for,” he said. Now with current WTO trade talks headed in…
Talks in the Doha Round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have collapsed again because Brazil, China, and India were unwilling to bend. Despite a powerful letter from 17 of the 21 members of the Senate Agriculture Committee and a clear message from the agricultural community, U.S. trade negotiators offered even more concessions in Geneva.…
WASHINGTON (July 14, 2008)—Farmers on both sides of the pond today came out swinging against the direction of international trade negotiations. “With a decisive Ministerial to be held next week, the undersigned organizations, representing America’s farmers and ranchers, wish to express their continued deep concern about the status and direction of the Doha Round of…
MEMPHIS – Criticisms of U.S. cotton farm programs are unwarranted. The truth: U.S. farm programs have operated as designed, supporting farmers’ incomes in times of low prices while allowing them to react to market signals. A report that dispels myths about U.S. farm law support to America’s cotton farmers can be found on the National…
WASHINGTON (June 27, 2008)—If it seems like Congress was voting on the farm bill every time you turned around, it’s probably because they have been. And industry insiders fear that the farm bill will not fade from the forefront anytime soon. The first public farm bill fight centered on the now-infamous Kind-Flake amendment. Despite the…
WASHINGTON (June 23, 2008)—Despite expressing some concerns with the farm bill, the U.S. Department of Agriculture appears to be making implementation of the new law a top priority. In a press release sent out yesterday, the USDA announced 2008 loan rates as well as new marketing assistance loan and loan deficiency payment provisions from the…
The farm bill has endured some rough obstacles in its venture to become law. Thankfully, many congressional members backed the farm bill to the very end. Farm Policy Facts would like to highlight some of their statements in support of the farm bill. “This is good legislation. It is good for the country and certainly…
WASHINGTON (May 23, 2008)—Despite a technical error and widespread confusion, 14 out of the 15 titles of the farm bill became law yesterday after the U.S. Senate voted to override President Bush’s veto. The House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to override the veto. A technical glitch led to one of the bill’s sections—the title…
By: Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 15, 2008: I come to the floor to ask my colleagues to work with me to pass one of the most critical economic stimulus packages this body will have a chance to vote on all year. This is a balanced proposal, both ensuring the viability…
By: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 15, 2008: Why a bill at all? Well, because our major competitors have much more ambitious support for their producers than we have for ours. This is a fact. The Europeans are providing more than three times as much support to their producers than we…
By: Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 14, 2008: We have come to a point where I believe we have a good bill that should be supported by all Members of this Congress from both urban, suburban and rural areas. I have here a chart that shows how the current farm bill…
By: Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 14, 2008: This farm bill contains solid reforms while addressing a variety of issues including forestry, rural development, renewable energy, nutrition, conservation, research, specialty crops, and livestock and still maintains the safety net necessary to ensure a safe, reliable and affordable domestic food supply. This…
By: Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 15, 2008: [F]arming is a critical part of the economy in my home state of Washington. Many people don’t know it, but Washington is the Nation’s 11th-largest farm State. And we are the third-largest producer of fruits and vegetables–which are also known around here as…
By: Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 15, 2008: This farm bill is important for a lot of reasons. I don’t have time to get into all the details of why I think this bill is important, but it does preserve a strong safety net. It does provide a permanent disaster title,…
By: Rep. Leonard Boswell (D – Iowa) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 14, 2008: Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this conference report… As chairman of the Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Subcommittee, working with my ranking member over here, Mr. Hayes, we have got the first-ever livestock title. It offers producers much-needed protections and…
By: Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 15, 2008: [T]oo few Americans realize how important America’s farmers and ranchers are to the economy and the security of this country. Over the last few years, major newspapers and Washington special interest groups have been busy demeaning our Nation’s farmers and ranchers… These attacks…
By: Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 14, 2008: [T]his bill is a victory for farmers, a victory for communities, a victory for rural America. As chairman of the Rural Development Subcommittee, I’m pleased that this conference report contains strong rural development title that supports small business, expands access to broadband, and…
By: Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 15, 2008: In an age of skyrocketing energy prices, economic uncertainty, and now a global food crisis, there is at least one thing we should be able to be certain of: our Nation’s food security. We cannot take for granted our ability to feed ourselves,…
WASHINGTON (May 15, 2008)—More than 1,000 farm, nutrition, and conservation organizations sent a letter to Congress today asking legislators to override President Bush’s veto of the bipartisan farm bill passed last week. Industry insiders noted that this letter was even larger than a similar group letter sent to Congress last week by 557 groups urging…
WASHINGTON (May 15, 2008) — After weeks of veto threats from the White House, lawmakers handed President Bush a stunning defeat this week by passing the farm bill by a veto proof margin. The U.S. House of Representatives was expected to be a major battleground, with farm bill supporters and opponents lobbying hard for every…
By: Rep. Kenny Hulshof (R-Mo.) Excerpt from Congressional Record May 14, 2008: [T]his bill is a victory for farmers, a victory for communities, a victory for rural America. I realize that fewer and fewer Americans have a direct connection to the land. One reason is because it’s becoming quite tough to make a living in…
WASHINGTON (May 14, 2008) — A coalition of Texas-based businesses and farmers are united with a clear message to Congress: support the farm bill. A letter to Members of Congress from the Southwest Council of Agribusiness, representing non-profit agricultural organizations, agribusinesses and financial institutions, urged support for the farm bill that is expected to reach…
WASHINGTON (May 14, 2008) — In a letter sent to every member of the Louisiana Congressional delegation yesterday, leaders from the state’s agricultural sector asked lawmakers “to work with others in Washington, D.C. to over-ride the [expected Presidential] veto before it occurs by overwhelmingly approving the farm bill now.” “While none of us achieved everything…
WASHINGTON (May 13, 2008)—More than 500 farm, nutrition, and conservation organizations sent a letter to Congress today urging legislators to vote in favor of the farm bill this week. Industry insiders believe this is one of the largest group letters ever sent on an agricultural issue, showing the unity among groups with varying political and…